Thursday afternoon i had to go to the dentist to get a filling. before you think i don’t take care of my teeth, it was to fill a groove apparently produced by brushing. anyway, i hadn’t had a filling since at least high school, and the last time i had anything major with my teeth was to get my wisdom teeth taken out, also in high school. they had given me laughing gas that time, which was awesome, except for the time they left it on too long and i got sick. so i go to the dentist on Thursday and i get sent to a different exam room than the usual one at the end of the hall. i figure this room was the one where all the crazy stuff happened like fillings because there was a big poster of a tropical beach with RELAX really big on the bottom.

right after i got in there, i got the bib, and then the hygienist put some kind of cream stuff on my gums with a q-tip. no shot, and boom, that section of my mouth was numb. nice, right? no giant shots! wrong! the dentist came in a few minutes later so i was ready. i close my eyes whenever i’m at the dentist when someone has their hands in my mouth, so i was not looking as the dentist used the big needles in my mouth. i felt NOTHING though, which was awesome. the shots made half my mouth numb, and felt like the bottom part of my jaw had expanded to twice its size. no matter though, once the filling procedure started, it went pretty fast, and felt like it was done within 15 minutes. the funny part was, right as he’s beginning to do the filling, Behind These Hazel Eyes came on the radio, and i was having to tell myself not to start singing to quell the nerves because someone was drilling in my mouth. the total time in the office was probably 45 minutes. not bad at all, and no pain later. despite the painless filling adventure, i hope to not have to get one for the foreseeable future.

today i went and volunteered at this math competition called MathCounts. it’s basically some jr high kids getting together and taking some tests, then the all stars go to a state competition. i had volunteered last year, and my friend Paul and i graded some tests. this year, Paul couldn’t go, but i did, and they had too many people. they had like 25 people to do work that half that many could do. so really, i didn’t have anything to do. i did go and read a book (finally actually reading books now!). i happened to be ‘paired up’ with the most annoying guy in the room to help make sure the tests went to the right rooms. he seems all too eager to work the problems from the tests and get the answers. he was also an ex-competitor, as he wore a MathCounts shirt from 1989. (i think, it was definitely an old shirt from when he competed) i noticed he had also brought a book to read, a dating book. maybe contained in that book is a way for him to learn to tone down his personality so he doesn’t come across as “the most annoying guy in the room.”